Back to VSF - This time its Empire of the Dead

I guess the clue is in the title with this. As a bit of a break from all the Lord of the Rings/WW2 gaming Scott kindly offered to introduce me to the wonderful world of Westwinds Empire of the Dead, a victorian science fiction game that is definitely more gothic horror than sci-fi! 

Anyway it gave me the chance to play with my recently completed Brotherhood of the Black Sun that I submitted for the Victorian bonus round of the challenge, I desperately wanted to get my victorian football hooligan on the board. Anyway on a lovely sunny New Zealand summer day I made the commute after work up to Scott's secluded country mansion to partake in tea and dice rolling, taking both my newly completed models and the Warbases Warehouse model which I had finally completed over the weekend. Scott was keen to see the scale of retail scenery and how it compares to his splendid home made Victorian terraces. I originally thought that the warehouse was a little too large however when laid out next to his scratch built houses it all looks about right.

Anyhow, lets get to the action shall we, the scenario rolled was "Fracas" with both of us having to split our forces and each deploy in two opposing corners of the board. This meant that I could either choose to have two seperate engagements or frantically try to link up my forces to fend off Scott's agressive advances. My faction was made up of a President armed with a heavy pistol and big axe, VP with light pistol and flaming brand, 4 membership in bloody great suits of armour (my Ironmen!) and 1 membership with a pistol and sword cane (purple suit!)

Scott was using his Pall Mall Patrons with President and VP armed with Pistols and swords member ship with rifles, repeater rifles and scoped rifles (arghhhhhh). The game uses a points system where you spend shillings to hire the members of your faction so it was all balanced in game terms but to be honest neither of us cared as it looked like a fun story to play out!

Scott moves his president up through the graveyard to threaten my president who is hiding behind the warehouse while I sneak two of my Ironmen around the terraces (sneak in ruddy great suits of armour, yeah right?). To back up the Ironmen my VP takes aim with his pistol but he must be a little blind not to notice Scott's marksmen taking aim over the hedge!

I try and sneak my other two Ironmen round the other side of the terraces but Scott saw it coming and moved to intervene. Now if only I can get priotity and activate them first I can pulp the annoying bloke with the repeater rifle. Meanwhile my President and his buddy engage in a pistol duel with Scotts president and supporting chap.

"Surprise" comes the muffled shout from inside the armoured suits however I didn't get priority and Scott obligingly gunned them both down.

Not to worry I've got the outflanking manouver,..............ah, that didn't work did it!

My president is getting worried, his minions are falling and the Pall mall Patrons are sneaking round the back!

Not to worry, my VP makes a dash for the marksmen and in a flurry of pistol shots and flaming brand action....... fluffs his attacks and beaten down.

The state of play, I've got two members of my faction left, Scott suddenly remembers the breakpoint rule and advise me that I've lost "Phooey" cries I, " have at thee" and we agree to play on!

and in a stunning display of brutality its President vs President with the Brotherhood of the Black Sun emerging victorious as Scotts' president succumbs to his wounds.

But it was not to be as Scott swarmed my President after easily dispatching purple suit and mobbed him, but not before he despatched another one of Scotts faction.

A belting game with plenty of scope for campaigns and development, I enjoyed it more than In her Majestys Name and will definitely be investing in a copy. Watch this space for more victorian gothic horror sci-fi sillyness!

The Challenge - Myth Bonus Round Entry

"They have a Cave Troll"

The Challenge continues with my Myth bonus round entry, a cave troll by Games Workshop for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. My justification being that many of the creatures in the Lord of the Rings books are culled from mythology and folklore anyway therefore this Troll has its roots in mythology!

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

He was painted up for the simple pleasure of painting, no deadline to get him on the painting table for a change. I probably could have put a little more time in but I had a few minor disasters with paint drying weird and then my Vallejo sepia wash pooling on the model, separating and drying as some weird kind of chalky powder. So i called it quits once he got to this stage!

Hopefully he'll get an outing at some point this year, once I finish up some Goblins to back him up (like he needs it!). I may have to redirect my painting effort away from complete warbands and back to the required models for the Journey books as I enjoy the storytelling aspect of the game a little more than the massed battle style games.

Holiday Adventures (or “it’s amazing what you find just around the corner”)

If you’re reading this blog from anywhere in the southern hemisphere you’ll know that it’s currently summer here in New Zealand. Now as it’s our first summer in this wacky/lovely/crazy place we’re a little confused (mentally), as in our heads it should be cold, dark and miserable and not gloriously bright and sunny! Anyway January and February are the holiday seasons for Kiwi’s and in the interests of joining in I recently had a week off work to enjoy some family time and generally get out and about and explore our new home (the Wellington region). This took me away from my hobby time but it was spent with my family which is my only other vice! However I did squeeze in a little hobby related shenanigans during our week of R&R when I was given a day pass by my beloved and allowed to venture off into the wilds on my own. 

So armed with a packed lunch, Google Maps and my trusty walking sandals I headed into town (Wellington is a city but it’s so small and cute I just have to call it a town) and made a bee line for the Tourist Information centre (or iSite as it’s called here) to pick up a few leaflets and pointers on what to do for fun that’s free. Now I did already have an ulterior motive as I had heard about a little thing called the “Middle Earth Costume Trail” and wanted to follow up on this, being an unashamed Lord of the Rings geek!

Ok so what’s this all about? Well as Weta Workshops are based in Wellington they decided to loan some of the original costumes from the Hobbit movies to Wellington council as a tourism feature. These have been placed in glass cabinets and scattered throughout the city, in hotels, department stores and museums and you have to track them down, kind of like a Tolkien themed Geocache (this is where the sandals come ) in.

So off I tramped for a few hours around the city pestering f hotel receptionists, customer service assistants, waitresses and pretty much anyone I could find as to the whereabouts of these mythical treasures. Kiwi’s being the good natured people they are I was welcomed on my wanderings quite politely and with many an amused glance (apart from a grumpy receptionist in a department store!!!)
Now I didn’t manage to get to all the locations as one was on another island (close by but I hate boats!) one was at the airport (close by but I hate parking fees) and the final one is in a cinema that was closed at that time of day and in a suburb out of town (but it is very cool so I’ll be heading out that way soon!). 

Anyway below you’ll find a bit of picture dump of said costumes, I would list where I managed to find them however that would take the fun out of it (if you manage to get to Wellington in the next few months!).

Finally, Opponents for Inspector Johnson!

The clanking noise coming from the workshop at the rear of the squalid tenement increased in volume to the point where the conversation could only be conducted in raised voices.

“I tell you that obtaining the remaining Shabti of Akhenaton should be our priority, before that idiot Inspector gets his hands on them” said the well-dressed gent leaning in the doorway whilst subconsciously fiddling with his pistol.

“No, I do not ag-ag-agree” stuttered his gas masked opponent sat in the tattered arm chair on the other side of the room. “We ne-eed to stop the Good Doctor in hi-hi-his ministrations. He ca-ca-can’t be allowed t-t-to heal that damn consulting detec-tec-tive”.

“Let me handle my cousin, my friends” said a new arrival coming from the hallway, Deer Stalker still perched on his balding pate, “I think we should be looking at your brothers new toys Lucius”.

They all rose at the implied command, Deer Stalker being the de facto leader of their little group (in the absence of the Professor). They all filed through the hallway, stepping over the bodies of the previous tenants and into the ‘workshop’ space, littered with all manner of esoteric tools and apparatus. In the centre of the room, fez perched jauntily on his head, green smoking jacket covered in oil stains stood Lucius’ brother Algernon looking rather triumphant.

“Behold my brethren, our new weapon in the fight against order and the corrupt empire of her most ignoble Majesty. I present to you my Iron Men!

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These chaps and their back story were my Bonus Round – Victorian submission for the Painting Challenge. I managed to write up a number of Battle Reports as a spoof Journal of the brave Inspector Johnson some time ago however moving to NZ has put that on the back burner for some time, so the challenge was good incentive to jump back in and restart things!

These are all Black Pyramid models from their Steam and Steel range, very nice clean models which were all relatively easy to paint. My only complaint was that in some areas they're a little light on detail and the chap holding the rather large aether pistol had a badly miscast hand! Otherwise they're quite characterful models.

I’m really quite proud of the Red and White scarf as I was going for the look of a Victorian anarchist/agitator and accidentally fell on the idea of making him a football fan and therefore a bit of a Hooligan! The satchel is a nod to his military past, I believe it was the 1890’s when khaki was introduced as a uniform colour for British forces but I may be wrong (feel free to correct my ignorance).

Anyway, there you have it. The Brotherhood of the Black Sun, occasional allies to Professor M and arch nemesisessess (nemisi?) of the brave and heroic Inspector Johnson!

The Hobby Butterfly or Attack of the Random Painting Loony!

My blogging output has taken a little bit of beating recently due primarily to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I have been hobbying, just not blogging, oh and it’s also been Xmas which means lots of family time. Anyway if you want to find how its going in the painting challenge just head on over to http://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.co.nz and have a look see. I’m currently languishing in 25^th place with 310pts although I am in good company with ScottB in 27^th however I’m expecting to see a marked increase in Scotts output now that the New Year hols are coming to an end!

On the gaming front I haven’t had many games recently, life appears to be getting in the way again. However I have managed to talk both Ashley and Scott into an intro to Bolt Action at my place tomorrow, probably the lure of not having to organise any of their own figures or terrain (which means they don’t have to pack away!), so I’ll aim to take pics and do some form of write up. Hopefully they’ll enjoy the simplicity and may decide to take the plunge and jump in, it’s a platoon level game so very minimal purchases required to actually play it!

Anyway here is a brief synopsis of my output of late, all of which were submissions to the comp!

Lord of the Rings – 8x Orcs
Some more of my budget second hand Orc’s, these are the ones that required repairs, mainly on weapons and such. Very simple paint scheme’s and my usual Vallejo sepia wash to give them a suitably grubby look. I think I’ve only got another 15 to go now!

 

Lord of the Rings – 6x Warg Riders
If I was more organised these would have made it into the Rider and Mount bonus round however I was too busy stuffing my face with the aforementioned cake decorating output. Much like the Orcs above these little devils were second hand and required a little repair prior to base coating and repainting. They’re painted in the same style as above although for some insane reason I used an old GW Black Ink on the Wargs which has given them a bit of shiny look (obviously they’ve recently been playing in a pond, like all happy doggies do!). I’ll see if it dies down once I get my dull coat spray. I have to say I’m not a big fan of these models, maybe it’s just that I haven’t found a colour scheme/style that I like

5x PSC 15mm M4A1 Shermans
They’ve been in the painting queue for some time and deserved a little attention. I really like Will’s stuff (apart from the weird German infantry, which he has now redone) and have quite a large stash of tanks in 15mm to get completed. And so here we have five M4A1, two with 75mm guns and three with the rather excellent 76mm gun. Now where did I put those good WW2 rules?

Naismith Sung Chinese 15mm

This is a weird one, I’ve had these sitting about for ages and suddenly got the urge to paint them just after Christmas day. So while my kids tried to destroy their wooden train track I set to painting them up with no other plan than to enjoy myself. What came out of it is a vague plan to collect an Empire of Tsuranuanni army, these figures being part of the Minwanabi force! I’m not sure whether I’ll actually do it however I did enjoy painting them and they’ve turned out pretty well so we’ll see. I’ve just got to figure out what to use for the Kingdom forces and the Cho-Ja? Anyone know any good 15mm Ant models?

2014 My Hobby Year in Review

Ok so the year has finally finished and what a mental one it has been (at least for me). We started the year in a new rental house in Bingley West Yorkshire (UK) and ended the year in a rental in Wilton (NZ).

Anyway I set myself a goal to start playing the Lord of The Rings Strategy Battle Game by Games Workshop as my alternative fantasy fix now that Warhammer 8th edition was broken. So how have I done.

Well I started out the year with a few games at my local club in Halifax with Andy and Chris and tried to get some interest going but it was quite difficult, gamers being the stubborn sods that they are! In amongst all this fantasy based goodness I continued to play Bolt Action, taking part in mate Geraints campaign day and painting up a German army in two weeks to add to my existing DAK army (that was also painted in about two weeks!)








Anyway Lord of the Rings has pretty much captured most of my hobby time this year. Having gotten to grips with the basics of the game I started painting up some Rohan models I managed to acquire, and in the process roundly cussing GW for such cheaply made models. The style is spot on and some of the metal minis are brilliant (primarily due to the Perry brothers) but the plastics are cheap and nasty with a lot of detail you have to infer through painting. Anyway I managed to crunch out a few Rohan figures, both mounted and foot before we had to pack up the house for our impending NZ migration.



From our rental home we moved into a caravan pending our visas being issued. All our possessions were packed away and due to lack of space in our luggage I only kept the LoTR Fellowship figures for my paint fix along with a few paints. I didn't manage to get as much painting done as I wanted in the caravan, the UK having possibly one of the best summers in years, I couldn't get any paint to stay wet on my brush before it got to the figures. Anyway I managed to finish the four Hobbits and Gimli before we flew out to NZ, then finished both Aragorn, Boromir and Legolas in NZ whilst waiting for our container to catch up to us.









Before we flew I also managed to get a few games of Zombicide in, this has satisfied my zombie gaming urges that I alluded to earlier in the year, sui much so that I managed to pick up a copy of the Prison Outbreak version of the game here in NZ. I also achieved that rarest of things for us gamers and that is to get your spouse interested in playing something, my wife thoroughly enjoyed playing Zombicide to the point where we're now playing it in campaign mode! Hopefully I'll still explore the wargaming side of the undead scourge however I'll settle for the board games solution until I can give it the attention it deserves.

Then it was like all my birthdays at once when our stuff arrived in NZ and we moved into a proper home, unpacking my hobby and gaming stuff after not having it for the last four months was awesome! So I promptly got cracking on some more LoTR figures (after all what am I going to paint when in middle earth?) and as I'd arranged to hook up with local blogger Scott thought I'd better begin my Isengard as it's the most rounded force I have in my lead/plastic pile. So I finished off a few orcs (which needed repairing as they were second hand) and built up a some Uruk Hai, these being slowly completed over the last four months of the year.










I also somewhat foolishly entered the fifth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and am now somewhat feeling under pressure. Obviously self imposed as there's no-one to push me but me, but still its been fun so far as it forces me to focus on models that have lingered without completion for a while and get some projects finished off.

2014 also saw my return to Flames of War, I've always liked the idea of the game but never found an opponent of the same mindset. Luckily local gamer Ashley is easy going, has a large garage and a nice collection, so it brings some light relief from all that Middle Earth tomfoolery!

And that brings me smoothly into 2015. So what have I got planned for my first year in NZ? Well I have a nice pile of LoTR figures to paint before I even contemplate buying anything else (Gondor rangers, Uruks, Warg riders, the house of the Steward, more orcs, more Rohan, Elves and loads of goblins with two trolls!). And that's just the Lord of the Rings stuff. I've still got my 28mm DAK and 8th Army to finish along with running some demo games of Bolt Action. Then there's the 15mm WW2 to paint and the occasional VSF model for my occasional forays into that genre. I think that's probably enough for 2015 although if I get chance I'll try and generate some interest in Saga.

So I hope you all had a great holiday season, if you are the sort to make new years resolutions good luck in keeping them (I've never managed which is why I don't bother anymore).

All the best for 2015
Ste